Ashtrays and cigarette lighters will soon be ancient history at Norwalk Community College

As of Wednesday, October 1, 2014 tobacco use will be prohibited on all Norwalk Community College grounds, college-owned or leased properties and in campus-owned, leased or rented vehicles. 

“NCC is implementing this tobacco- and smoke-free campus policy to provide a safe and healthy working and learning environment for our staff, faculty, students and guests,” said NCC President David L. Levinson, Ph.D., Vice-President for the Community Colleges, Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education.

NCC and Quinnipiac University’s North Haven campus are the only higher education institutions in Connecticut to be 100% tobacco- and smoke-free.

Tobacco is defined as all tobacco derived or contained products, including but not limited to, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, hookah smoked products, pipes and oral tobacco (smokeless, chew, snuff).  It also includes any product intended to mimic tobacco products or containing tobacco flavoring.

Public Act No. 93-304 (an Act Prohibiting Smoking in Public Buildings) became a law on October 1, 1993. It provides, in relevant part, that smoking is prohibited in any building or portion thereof that is owned, leased, and/or operated by the State of Connecticut.

Findings of the U.S. Surgeon General indicate that passive exposure to cigarette smoke (second hand or passive smoke) is linked to a variety of serious health issues—both for the smoker and anyone nearby who inhales the smoke.